Fishery management by region
Different oceans, seas, countries, coasts, and districts have not only different ecosystems, but different kinds of people working those fisheries, and the interactions between resource ecology and social ecology can be very numerous indeed. Some resources need to be managed on an ocean-basin scale - fisheries for highly migratory species, whilst others may be confined to a single reef or river. Although many textbooks might lead you to think otherwise, fisheries biology is only one of the disciplines that need to be taken into account in fishery management, which also has to include social science, economics, and ecology, with a sprinkling of meteorology, database management, and psychology. Consequently, although some general principles can be described, the details of fishery management in different parts of the world are never the same. This section provides a geographically stratified view of fishery management, slicing through the field at a different angle from the function-based view available from the Fishery management mechanisms section. It is organised by Ocean, and ocean-level fisheries management systems, with progressive subdivisions under each ocean (although the articles on countries with coastlines bordering more than one ocean may be referred to from more than one ocean page and linked by categories). As well as moving down through the article tree from ocean, to country, to district etc, you can search for areas through the Wikia search bar on the menu at the left. In some cases, geographically-distinct fisheries may not fit neatly into the tree, and there is a miscellaneous section to accommodate them. Global-scale fisheries At the top level are fisheries of global scope, managed by global organisations. There is really only one such global organisation with direct fishery management responsibilities - the International Whaling Commission IWC. Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean Region also includes the Baltic, the Mediterranean and the Black Seas. In each of those seas are practiced local and national, often traditional management systems. In many cases these systems may be quite different from those practiced in the various parts of the Atlantic proper. As far as fisheries management is concerned, the Atlantic Ocean proper can be divided into two major areas: the North and the South. In the former, formal government (European Commission in Europe)-administered systems dominate, many based on TACs and quotas and many other rules, often well-enforced. In the South, on the African side, apart from a few countries, fisheries management, if any, is based on traditional ways, which may include some sort of effort control. On the American/Caribbean side, management systems vary, ranging between the former two. Indian Ocean Regional Fishery Management Bodies in the Indian Ocean include the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission IOTC etc... (stub) Pacific Ocean The main fisheries of oceanic scope in the Pacific are the tuna fisheries. In the Western and Central Pacific, Regional Fishery Management Bodies include the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), and the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean ("WCP Tuna Commission"). Both of these bodies facilitate the management of western and central Pacific tuna fisheries, with the recently-formed WCP Tuna Commission bringing Western Central Pacific pelagic high seas fisheries under international management for the first time and setting the overall "envelope" for the regional tuna fisheries, whilst FFA continues to concentrate on helping Pacific Island countries manage tuna fisheries within their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Another Pacific Islands regional agency, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (http://www.spc.int/mrd) is not a regional fishery management body but an advisory and consultative body, providing fishery scientific advice and coastal fishery support services to Pacific Island countries and territories. There is currently no regional arrangement to manage fisheries for straddling stocks in the Western Pacific, although New Zealand and Australia jointly convend a conference in February 2006 to consider initiating such an arrangement for the South Pacific in the area between the Tropic of Capricorn and the northern boundary of the CCAMLR region, whilst FFA and SPC have been jointly tasked by the Pacific Islands Forum to report on the feasibility of a legislative regime to cover the Western Tropical Pacific. In the Eastern Pacific etc ... (stub) National and local fisheries of the Pacific can be reached from the more detailed Pacific Ocean article and the Pacific Ocean category. Southern Ocean Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Living Marine Resources CCAMLR stub category:continents and oceans category: